A wake up call
What you need and what you prefer are often not the same thing.
That’s not a problem. And you know that already, anyway.
The problem is when we confuse the two.
You need to study, or work. You would prefer to eat, or sleep. In such cases, it’s easy to tell which is which, and even if it’s hard to carry out, you know which one you should do.
But when it comes to your work, it’s not so easy to see.
Oh, I don’t mean work you’re doing for other people: when you need to deliver something tomorrow, even if you would have preferred to have a week, you’ll probably get it done. That’s an easy decision to make, even if it’s a beast to carry out.
But when it comes to your own work, the work that can move you forward if it gets done, but that nobody will beat you up for if it doesn’t?
That’s when your preference is likely to get in the way. You haven’t done it yet. You would like more time, more people, more space, more tools.
Hey. Wake up.
See, everyone says the good is the enemy of the best, but the thing is, it works the other way around, too: the number one thing holding you back from good work might be that set of ideal conditions you’ve been waiting for.
It’s time to stop waiting.
Good enough really is good enough.
But let’s face, you know what’s really holding you back, don’t you?
Of course you do.
The real enemy is fear.
There, said it.
Fear is what paralyses you so much. Fear that your work won’t be good enough. Fear that you won’t accepted or recognised. Fear that the voice in your head that keeps whispering, “Who are you fooling?” is right, after all.
And so, instead of taking the risk, instead of doing the work and actually finding out the voice was right, you stall. You tell yourself that if you can get everything lined up just right, you will finally unleash your creative forces and give the world the great work that you know you have the potential for.
How long have you been telling yourself that, though?
A year? Five years? Ten? Your entire life?
Come on. Forget about doing the great thing. What’s the point, when you want to do something so great, you’ve not done anything at all? Enough time has gone already.
And time is the one thing you don’t have an infinity of, you know. You don’t even get a renewal on the thing. The two or three minutes you took to read up to here are gone.
The clock is ticking. You know what time it is?
Time to stop waiting for the right time.
It’s time to start. Do something. Anything, even. And take it from there.
Just start already.